A BOUNTY of £1,000 has been put on the fingerprint of Redditch MP and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith by two human rights groups.

More than 10,000 Wild West style Wanted posters of both the Home Secretary and Prime Minister Gordon Brown have been produced urging people to try and get the pair's fingerprints.

Privacy International and No2ID hope the stunt will bring attention to the Government's fingerprinting policy and highlight the recent problems with millions of personal details being lost.

Phil Booth, the national coordinator of anti-ID Card pressure group No2ID, who grew up in Selly Park, said: "We are hoping people from Birmingham and Redditch who find themselves near the Home Secretary will try their hardest to get her fingerprint.

"As an MP in Redditch and a major player in the West Midlands she will have to go to constituency meetings and events and these will be an ideal opportunity to get her fingerprint.

"However, I have to stress that it should be done lawfully.

"The Government takes our fingerprints when we apply for a passport so why shouldn't we get theirs."

The £1,000 reward will be given to a charity chosen by the successful member of the public who succeeds in nabbing a full fingerprint.

The Wanted posters will be put up across the West Midlands by the Birmingham branch of No2ID.

Accusing the politicians of "identity theft" the posters state: "The fingerprint must be obtained lawfully and can be located on a glass, door knobs or any object with a hard surface.

"Corroborating evidence is required to ascertain the identity of these thieves."

The £1,000 reward will be paid to the winner's choice of charity. The plan is inspired by the German anarchy group Chaos Computer Club when they collected the fingerprints of German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble.

A Home Office spokesman said: "By linking fingerprints to a secure database with strict rules outlining its use, the National Identity Scheme will allow individuals, business and the state to prove identity more securely, conveniently and efficiently while protecting personal information from abuse.

"The scheme builds on measures that are already being introduced - biometric passports for UK citizens and biometric immigration documents."

"As we set out in the Strategic Action Plan in December 2006, the National Identity Register (NIR) will hold core identity information. It will not be an amalgam of all existing Government data. It will not hold information on a person's political or religious opinion, health records, criminal record, tax or other financial records.

"It will hold the same sort of identity information that the Government already holds for the issue of passports, plus biometrics such as fingerprints."